Our house has hardwood floors in the kitchen.

To be more precise, it has engineered hardwoods that are uneven, worn, scratched, and discolored.  You can see some of the messed up boards above- the finish is wearing unevenly.

I love shiny floors but I never could get more than a glimmer on the kitchen floor, no matter what I tried.  I even tried a bottle of commercial floor shine, which wore off after a few weeks and made a bigger mess.

I dreamed of getting a steam mop, but my floors are too damaged for those.

Then I discovered how to clean wood floors that natural, thrifty way.

Tea.

My floors tend to get pretty dirty, so I usually mop first with hot water and a splash of vinegar.  Wring out your mop well- hardwoods hate water.

Make a pot of very strong tea.  I boil a quart of water in a pot and add four tea bags.  You just need the regular, cheap, get-100-for-two-bucks kind.

I use my sink as a mop bucket.

The trick is to mop with the grain of the wood while the tea is still very hot.  See the steam in the above picture?  HOT.  For extra gloss and conditioning if you have scuffed or otherwise unsealed hardwood, add a teaspoon or two of olive oil to the tea.

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